Stand By Me: Solidarity With The Iranian People

It's Hard Out Here For A ...

In his hour long news conference from the White House briefing room President Obama called on Huffington Post's Nico Pitney. Pitney's live blogging of the uprising in Iran is some of the best I've found on the internet. Here is the reaction from the Villagers:

Michael Calderon:

Reporters typically don’t coordinate their questions for the president before press conferences, so it seemed odd that Obama might have an idea what the question would be. Also, it was a departure from White House protocol by calling on The Huffington Post second, in between the AP and Reuters.

Ben Smith:

The high-profile the administration is giving the left-leaning outlet is a nice case of symbiosis, not entirely unlike the Bush Administration's close ties to Fox, though the president's signal that he'd been briefed on the question in advance was particularly unusual.

Dana Milbank:

Pitney recognized his prompt. "Yes," Pitney said, standing in the aisle and wearing a temporary White House press pass. "I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian."

But you have to read all three pieces to get the entire flavor of this whine fest anlthough Ben Smith is whining so much as he is trying to characterize the Huffington Post as in the tank for Obama.

Arianna Huffington posted a defense of Pitney that gets to the nut of the complaints:

Michael, Dana, and Ben: come in from recess. You guys clearly need a nap. And a better fact-checker.

From the tone and the baseless arguments presented by those fine gentlemen it appears they are butt hurt because someone with a temporary press pass got called on by the POTUS after working tirelessly to cover the uprising in Iran for the past work.

Dude, Where's My Twitter? (Edited for Spelling)

After returning from his trip to Russia, Iranian President Adminalphabetdude has resurfaced with a new public statement.

One View Of The Streets Of Teheran 140 Characters At A Time

Since the beginning of the uprising in Iran I have been follow several people on Twitter to get updates on the happenings. One of the most compelling stories comes from someone tweeting regularly out of a university in Teheran. This person--who I do not wish to indentify at this time--has been in the thick of some of the protests. At about 8:30 EDT 19 June 2009 this individual went off the air to attend the marches today. About 2 1/2 hours ago this individual began tweeting again after a 21 hour break. This compelling story gives you a tiny slice of what it's like to be in Iran today. This report via Twitter is a historical document transmitted out of Iran 140 characters at a time.

it was a nightmare, I can barely breath & my face is burning, Masood got shot in the arm & Shayan's brother is missing

I don't know where to start with, first they attack our peacful memorial gathering in front of the university with water gun

the university's doors were close, we couldn't run everywhere! & then they start shooting tear gas at us

they were so many! riot police, normal police, intel, IRG, Basij! I managed to scape, but they captured so many people

all routes to Azady square were blocked & if anyone stopped walking or walking slow they hit him/her brutally

there was no safe path, people were walking in cycles between all variety of security forces

I think they made fun of people, don't go here, go this way, not that way & for no apparent reason suddenly attacking random people

we tried our best using all known shortcuts for reaching Azady SQ were mousavi was, but ended up in face to face with IRG

they weren't just the ordinary police or motorcycle riot guard, they were soldiers holding MP5 supported by reinforced military cars

we didn't realize for a moment they started shooting at people, the gun's sound was like a toy gun, not loud & the soliders were smiling

I was going to tell masood they are using fake guns for scaring people! until people started screaming in agony

we were at Nosrat st, and that part of that damned street had no were for covering

we ran as fast as we could in the opposite direction, at the same time basiji bastards started to hit fleeing people

I think I saw 2 or 3 people lying on the ground in blood & IRG started to move them, probably hide them.

I lost masood in the crowd in upper streets of Nosrat the irony was everything was calm there & people overthere shocked by the looks of us

it was the biggest disadvantage for us today, police & basij managed to cut off people and prevent them from gathering

@databox they arrested people with cell phone in hands on sight.

they also attacked & arrested anyone with any green symbols or mousavi's pictures


damned government also armed street thugs & Afghan workers with anti riot shields & wooden or electric batons

most of them wearing in house clothings & I think they were really enjoying attacking people

@databox if you have any idea what's happening here you would never asked that

@neatfires No, I didn't see any

@Scott_Berlin It was very hard getting out of Enghelab area & we also ended up helping people at Valiasr st

@Ammidon I can't breath normally & my stomach hurts, but I'm good, thanks.

@DINESCU from what I saw today, we have a very long road for that to happen

apprently when I was wandering in Laleh Park searching for water Shayan managed to take Masood to a local Doctor

@darpana2 I'm good enough to post here, thanks

for a help please found a good way for countering tear & pepper gas, drinking milk didn't help.

@polasani Basij are everywhere also inside all hospitals, and this is currently a big problem regarding Masood's wound

@JCLemay Yes! smoke, tear and the one people call pepper gas. I don't know what really is that, but it make your skin burn

it looks some people are still out there, I can hear a chopper passing by

thanks everybody for the info & links

it looks state TV showed the conflict live via traffic cams, saying: enemy agents attacking police in Azady street

I have no idea why some people still believe in State TV, a woman told me today you just found a new way for playing around streets

@ali_hassan and it's also said basij surrounded them. anyway I will go see masood first thing in the morning

@JBCTU rumor is they are all house arrest expect admiral Shamkhani who is protected by his loyal marines

@hope4ul no things are not calming down! not after what they done today!

@instigateanomie everyone protesting in streets are pawns of US, England & Israel according to government

http://bit.ly/WWcOF lot happened at Shiraz city too, one of few cities standing with Tehran

@mhartzcoutts I'm safe, and last time I checked masood he was at a friend's office with some of the students & he was ok.

The Arc of the Moral Universe

A quote from President Obama's interview with CBS's Harry Smith:

Harry Smith: People in this country say you haven't said enough, that you haven't been forceful enough in your support for those people in the street, and which you say?

President Obama: To which I say the last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do. That's what we've already seen. We shouldn't be playing into that. There should be no distractions from the fact that the Iranian people are seeking to let their voices be heard.

Now, what we can do is bear witness and say to the world that the, you know, incredible demonstrations that we've seen is a testimony to, I think what Dr. King called the the arc of the moral universe. It's long but it bends towards justice.

And bear witness we shall as later today we will have a better idea of what lies ahead for the people of Iran.

Bob Dylan In Iran

The Guardian posted this photo of today's demonstration in Tehran. So who is Knocking On Heaven's Door?

Cyberwar Guide For Iran Election

Nico Pitney at HuffPo put up a link to this guide for those wishing to give cyber assistance to Iranian protesters. It contains some very good advice.